The food council is dedicated to creating a healthy, accessible, and sustainable food system
in Dane County. Over the past few years, the council has been hard at work through a variety
of initiatives:
- Authored the Local Food Purchase Program Policy, which was approved by the Dane County Board of Supervisors to explore options for purchasing and serving locally produced foods in the county's food service facilities.
- Partnered with the Institutional Food Market Coalition on a pilot program with the Badgerland Produce Auction to get consolidated food service to serve more than 7,500 lbs of fruits and vegetables.
- Organized "Planting Seeds for our Future" conference which brought together more than 150 people from diverse sectors of Dane County to focus on social, environmental, and economic linkages within the county food system and discuss a wide range of food topics.
- Recognized as a finalist in the National Association of Counties (NACO) Sustainable Community Awards program and was also highlighted by NACO as a model program in its publication Counties and Local Food Systems: Ensuring Healthy Foods, Nurturing Healthy Children.
- Partnered with other groups in co-sponsoring the "Southwest Regional Hunger Forum" attended by 100 people in Richland Center which focused on hunger, nutrition, and food access issues.
- Co-sponsored and helped facilitate the Community Food Security Coalition midwest regional training for emerging food policy councils.
- Council members made presentations on sustainable food systems and food council activities at various organizational meetings. View a sample of organizations to which we've presented.
- Organized a meeting on local food distribution issues in Dane County.
- Coordinated a tour of the Second Harvest Food Bank in Madison to explore food security in our region, which received over 40 attendees.
- Organized a bus trip for 50 people to tour two urban agriculture programs, Growing Power & Walnut Way in Milwaukee.